


Your Names are Tragic and Beautiful

by rochke11



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-29
Updated: 2015-10-12
Packaged: 2018-04-17 19:29:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4678598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rochke11/pseuds/rochke11
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*Prequel to Coconut Icing* After the birth of their younger daughter, Clarke and Lexa tell the story of how they met, twenty years earlier.<br/>Clarke Griffin hates the fact that her mom and new stepdad are forcing her to spend the summer at a small beach town at a family run inn run by Gustus Woods and his three daughters.  She know she's going to hate every moment until Lexa Woods, the middle daughter, returns to the inn.  The two immediately start to hate each other.  Or do they?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to the Polis Inn

**Author's Note:**

> Not necessary to have read Coconut Icing before this, but I really wanted to add to that world!

_“I knew it was going to be a girl!” Willa enthused as she skipped happily down the hospital hallway, followed by her twin brother and mother._

_Clarke and Lexa had debated throughout Lexa’s pregnancy whether or not to find out the sex of the baby, but in the end they’d decided not to. When Clarke had been pregnant with the twins, they had learned the sexes, but that was because they’d decided that the surprise of twins was enough surprise for one pregnancy._

_“Take a left here,” Clarke spoke to her eight-year-old daughter who was just about to miss the turn. Clarke already knew her way around the maternity ward well, even though she worked in an entirely different wing of the hospital as a surgeon. She knew the maternity ward well because she’d spent nearly thirty hours in the wing with Lexa as the woman had been in labor for just over twenty-five hours. But just after the sun had risen, Lexa had given birth to their daughter. Clarke had spent some time with Lexa and the baby before returning home to pick up their other children._

_Lexa’s father and older sister were already on their way, but lived several hours away so Abby and Marcus, Clarke’s parents, were waiting for them at the train station so that they could all meet the newest addition to their family together._

_Willa finally managed to slow down as she peeked her head in every door, trying to find her mom and new sister so Clarke and Jake quickly caught up to her. When they reached the last door on the right, Clarke knocked once before opening the door to reveal her very tired wife cradling their daughter in her arms. The brunette’s smile widened at the sight of her family and waved them in._

_“She’s so small,” Jake gasped as he looked down at his younger sister._

_“Can I hold her?” Willa asked._

_“Go sit on the chair over there,” Lexa nodded, gesturing to the chair next to the bed. Willa immediately followed her mom’s directions and waited as Clarke took the baby from Lexa’s arms and carefully placed her in her sister’s arms._

_“What’s her name?” Willa asked as she looked down adoringly at the baby._

_“Dylan,” Lexa and Clarke spoke simultaneously, exchanging smiles._

_“I like it,” Willa nodded before leaning down to whisper in her sister’s ear, “I’m going to be the best big sister ever.”_

_“How’d you decide on her name?” Jake asked. He was the calmer of the twins and was very inquisitive, always asking questions._

_“Actually, we decided on all your names long before you were born,” Clarke explained, looking at her wife, communicating silently with one-another._

_“Really?” Willa looked up from the baby, “How’d you pick all our names?”_

_“Jake, you were named after your grandfather,” Lexa spoke._

_“Granddad or Pops?” he asked._

_“Neither actually,” Clarke explained, “Granddad is my stepdad, but my real dad’s name was Jake, just like you.”_

_“Oh right, I think I knew that,” the boy nodded._

_“What about me and Dylan?” Willa asked._

_Clarke and Lexa looked back at each other and shared looks of understanding with an undertone of sadness._

_“Have I ever told you the story about how I met your Momma?” Lexa asked. Willa shook her head and looked at her brunette mother in awe, as if she held all the answers to the world._

_“Why don’t I start off the story then?” Clarke asked, sharing an adoring smile with her wife._

 

* * *

 

To say that Clarke was unhappy to be spending the summer in the small town of TonDC with her mother and step-father would be an understatement. She was absolutely pissed about it. Instead of spending the three months with her best friends Bellamy and Raven, enjoying each other’s company before heading off to their freshman years in college, she was going to be at a crappy, family-owned inn in a beach town full of locals.

“What kind of name for a town is TonDC anyway?” Clarke scoffed as they entered the small town from the backseat in her mom’s Porsche Cayenne. Clarke secretly hoped that her mom and Marcus would see how out of place they were in the small town. Her mom was a surgeon and her step-dad was a congressman, they lived a life a luxury and they were bound to feel out of place. Clarke was hoping they would figure that out soon and that they could be on their way home. Then maybe they could spend the rest of their summer in the Hamptons, where normal people went.

“I’m not sure where the name came from,” Marcus spoke, “But I know it’s a very old town. When Europeans first came to this part of Massachusetts, it was a mecca for Native American exchanges, a trade city of sorts. The Natives were first wary of the Europeans, but eventually they got along.”

“You mean they were wiped out by smallpox,” Clarke muttered under her breath.

“What was that honey?” Abby asked.

“Nothing,” Clarke grumbled.

“Anyway, there is a ton of history here. Gustus is very knowledgable. When we were first booking our trip I spent nearly an hour on the phone with him simply talking about local infrastructure,” Marcus continued, oblivious to Clarke’s tone. “Gustus owns the Polis Inn, where we’re staying.”

“Maybe you should go marry him instead,” Clarke scoffed. She knew that she was being petulant, but she hated the fact that she wasn’t spending the summer with her friends. She actually liked Marcus and at times got along better with him than she did with her mother, though maybe that was just because he was actually home for dinner, but he was also an easy target. He always took Clarke’s taunts without complaint, thinking it would help get him on Clarke’s good side.

“Here we are!” Marcus exclaimed as he pulled in to the driveway of The Polis Inn. The Inn itself was a large Victorian home painted light blue with a wraparound porch that went around the the entire first floor. There was only a small parking lot beside the Inn, more like a driveway with room for maybe five cars. Alongside the house where they parked was a bike rack filled with nearly a dozen beach cruisers in all different sizes.

“It looks even nicer than in the pictures!” Abby exclaimed as she exited the car. Clarke groaned as she followed suit, grabbing her purse from the seat beside her and sliding out of the Porsche. She groaned again at the sight of her mom and step-dad hugging and kissing before opening the hatch of the car to retrieve their luggage.

Clarke considered asking if there was a bellhop to help them with their luggage, but one look at the place and she knew it was fruitless to even ask. Besides, her mom would probably make some remark that fell along the lines of ‘I told you so’. She’d tried to tell Clarke that she’d packed too much, but Clarke had been unable to part with anything in her suitcases. If she was going to be gone the entire summer, then she at least needed the comforts of a full wardrobe.

Marcus and Abby grabbed their bags, Marcus placing Abby’s purse on top of his suitcase so she didn’t have to carry it and walked hand-in-hand inside the inn. Clarke nearly gagged at the sight before struggling to maneuver her two suitcases, duffle bag and purse up the steps to the Inn.

Clarke was surprised to find the entranceway to the Inn to actually look nice. She’d been expecting something out of a motel horror movie, but the living room that the entrance led in to was well decorated and homey looking. Not like Clarke’s home of course, the Griffin-Kane home was a penthouse apartment in New York, professionally decorated to look thoroughly modern. The Inn looked more like a home Clarke’s own home and she could already see the photos lining the walls, photos of the beach and photos of a family. She vaguely remembered Marcus saying something about the Inn being run by a family.

“Clarke!” Abby gestured for Clarke to join her and Marcus as they spoke to a very large man with an impressive beard and braided hair. It took Clarke a moment to get over her shock at seeing the man before she managed to wrangle her bags over to the adults. “This is Gustus,” Abby introduced the man to Clarke.

Gustus held out his hand which Clarke reluctantly shook in response, “Nice to meet you,” she grimaced.

“I think you’re going to like TonDC,” Gustus spoke directly to Clarke. “There’s a lot of kids your age around here and there like one big group of friends.”

“Mhmm,” Clarke grumbled. She already had friends, there was no reason for her to meet a bunch of locals whose idea of fun was chugging Natty Lite in a trailer park.

“Anyway,” Gustus at least seemed to pick up on Clarke’s lack of enthusiasm and was able to change the topic of conversation, “Your parents have the keys to your suite. We have ten rooms here, eleven if you count the suite on the third floor, which is where you’re staying. There’s two bedrooms there.” They weren’t her parents, Clarke thought to herself, they were her mom and stepdad.

As Gustus spoke, a young girl emerged from behind him from what looked like a dining room. She looked like she was maybe thirteen and with straight blonde hair, she looked nothing like Gustus, making the first word she spoke a surprise to Clarke, “Dad, do you need any help?” she asked.

“Tris! Perfect!” the large man exclaimed. “This is my youngest daughter, Tris,” Gustus introduced the girl, “She can show you up to your room.”

Tris nodded and upon seeing Clarke’s large amount of suitcases, she glanced between the luggage and the stairs before grabbing the larger bag. “I can show you guys up,” she spoke, leading them up the stairs. Clarke was immensely grateful to not have to struggle her way up the three flights with all her stuff at once and she couldn’t help but marvel at the way the young girl seemed to carry her heaviest bag with ease. She was much stronger than she looked.

As soon as Tris left them in the suite, Clarke immediately made her way to her room and shut the door behind her. To call their adjoining rooms a suite was a bit of a stretch. They were two identical rooms, both containing queen beds, side tables and a dresser with a small sitting room between them. At least Clarke would have her own bathroom. The broody teenager started to unpack her stuff, making sure that the framed picture of herself and Wells had survived the journey and placing it on the bedside table, when she realized that she’d forgotten her purse downstairs. She’d wanted to text her best friends and complain, but the phone was in her purse.

Groaning internally, she opened her door and left the suite, slouching her way down the three flights of stairs. She saw her Marc Jacobs purse as soon as she reached the base of the stairs and quickly grabbed it. As she turned to head back upstairs though, she found herself walking straight in to someone.

“Sorry,” she spoke quickly as she stepped away and took in the girl she’d walked directly in to. The girl was only slightly taller than Clarke, but had an imposing presence. Clarke couldn’t help but admire her cheekbones and her perfect bone structure. Her posture was perfect and it was only after the girl arched an eyebrow at her that Clarke realized she’d been staring, and possibly even checking the other girl out.

“You must be Clarke, you’re staying with your parents in the suite, correct?” the girl asked.

“Yeah,” Clarke nodded, “Not my parents though, my mom and stepdad.” She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to correct the woman. Clarke figured that’s what she was anyway. Not a girl. Though technically Clarke could be considered a woman, she was eighteen. But the woman she was talking to had probably four or five years on her.

“Well I hope you enjoy your stay here,” the woman spoke. “I’m not sure how much my dad told you about our amenities, but I’m pretty much always around if you have any questions.” Clarke didn’t really understand how Gustus could be the father to both the woman in front of her and Tris, but she didn’t dwell too long on the thought. “There are bikes outside that are for the use of guests, you can just take one into town or the beach or whatever. Everyone bikes around here. There are also a handful of beach chairs in the shed out back. The beach is only about a five minute walk away.”

Clarke nodded, not really caring what the woman was saying, but she felt she needed to pretend to care in order to be polite. Clarke was nothing if not polite, five years of cotillion had instilled manners in her. It wasn’t just that she didn’t care about the bikes, Clarke was just focused on the woman’s jaw line. She wondered how it could be so perfect.

“And I think that’s about it,” the woman finished, pulling Clarke back in to the conversation and forcing her to pay attention.

“Okay, thanks,” Clarke nodded.

“You weren’t listening to anything I just said, were you?” the woman scoffed, calling Clarke out directly.

“No, I…I…” Clarke stuttered, thrown off by the fact that she’d been caught.

“It’s fine,” the woman shook her head with a chuckle, “I get it. You have no interest in spending the summer in TonDC with your parents. Or mom and stepdad or whatever. I honestly don’t blame you. Sure, TonDC has its perks, but its incredibly boring sometimes. And you’re coming from New York City, so I bet this place will be a nightmare.” Clarke looked at the woman inquisitively, “I’m spoke to your mom on the phone last week, she told me you’d probably have trouble adjusting. It’s funny, because when your mom spoke about you, all I could think about was the fact that you and my sister are either going to hate each other or paint this town red once she gets back.”

“Tris?” Clarke asked.

“No,” Anya shook her head, “My other sister. The middle one.”

“Oh,” Clarke spoke, still not sure why she was still talking to the woman.

“I don’t think I ever actually introduced myself, did I?” the woman asked, causing Clarke to shake her head. “I’m Anya Woods.”

Clarke nodded at Anya and saw her time to leave the conversation, “Nice to meet you. Well I should probably get back to my mom.” Anya nodded and gestured for her to go up the stairs.

Halfway up the three flights of stairs, Clarke found herself facing a photo of three girl standing on the beach, all looking like they were in the middle of dancing. Clarke looked closer at the photo and inspected each of the girls. On the left was obviously Anya. The girl’s blonde hair was similar to the way Clarke had just seen it, but her roots weren’t showing and it was done up with a wraparound braid. Her short white dress was whipping in the wind.

Beside Anya was Tris, and while Anya didn’t look much younger in the photo, Tris did. She looked maybe two years younger because at that age, kids changed quickly in appearance. The young girl was grinning widely, showing off her jack-o-lantern teeth. She too wore a white dress that had clearly been mangled by her crazy dancing. She had one foot up in the air and her arms above her head.

On the right of her was the final Woods sister, the one Clarke had yet to meet. Like her sisters the girl was wearing a matching white dress, but unlike them she didn’t have blonde hair. Instead the teenager had long curly brown locks that had been caught in the wind and frozen in the air in time by the photographer. Her hands were holding on to the sides of her dress and she was looking down, but Clarke could tell that she was smiling. Clarke found herself looking at the third Woods sister for longer than she had the other two combined.

She wanted to know who she was. She wanted to know what made her smile and why her sisters had blonde hair while she had brown. She wanted to know why none of the sisters looked alike. She wanted to know why the girl was clutching the sides of her dress like she wanted to tear it to pieces and how she was still smiling at the same time.

Suddenly, Clarke heard someone coming up the stairs behind her and she quickly scrambled upstairs, nearly forgetting about the photo and the third girl in it. It wasn’t until she texted her friends later that night that she realized that the third Woods sister in the photo would be her age now, if she guessed correctly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I'm asking for a little bit of creative thinking on this one, because the story being told is obviously going to contain things that Clexa wouldn't tell their children, but for the sake of the story, I'm going to include it ;)
> 
> madgirlbackhome.tumblr.com


	2. I'm Not Drunk I Swear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I'm going to try and have this be one of those fics that I update everyday. we'll see how it goes! hope you enjoy a bit from Lexa's POV

“But I want you to stay!” the little boy pouted as Lexa gave him an extra hug before placing him in the arms of one of his older siblings.

“I wish I could stay too kiddo, but I have to go home. I came here straight from school and my dad and sisters haven’t seen me since Christmas,” Lexa explained, providing the boy a pout that matched his. “But I promise I’ll visit again on my way back to school in August, okay?” The little boy nodded and Lexa then turned to the mother of the children. “Thanks for letting me visit Maggie.”

“Don’t be silly Lexa!” the woman laughed, pulling the nineteen-year-old into a hug. “You are always welcome here. The kids loving having you here and it helps them.” Lexa smiled softly, understanding the woman’s unspoken words. The five younger Crewe children waved to Lexa as she walked out the door, following their oldest sister.

The car ride to the train station was almost eerily quiet and when they arrived at the train station, both girls got out of the car and silently walked together to the track waiting area. Lexa bought her ticket then returned to the girl she’d practically grown up with. The girl who had been in her same class from kindergarten until senior year. The girl whose family had moved three hours away after she graduated.

Lexa reached out and grasped the other girl’s hand, squeezing tight. She knew she had only a few minutes before the train would arrive, but she wanted to make the time with the girl last. The girl was the best friend she had in the world and the only one who really understood the reason why Lexa was the way she was.

When she looked at the other girl, Lexa saw that her brown eyes were already on her. Lexa knew every line on the other girl’s face, the curve of her body. But it was foreign to her. She knew the way her dark hair could hold a curl for an extraordinary amount of time and that she had dimples when she smiled. She knew the exact shape of her lips, but only knew what they felt like from a ghost.

“I know what you’re thinking,” the girl sighed, watching the way Lexa looked at her. “When I look at you all I see is her too. I can’t imagine what it must be like for you.”

“I’m not her,” Lexa shook her head. “I could never be her. And you’re not her either. You already are starting to not look like her.”

“I think about that every time I look in the mirror,” the girl sighed. “I look at myself, or I look at any picture of her and I think, I am older than she will ever be. Sometimes I wonder if its a blessing or a curse both to me, mom, you and everyone else that we’ll never have to wonder what she would look like at a certain age.”

Lexa pulled her friend into a hug and squeezed her tightly. “We’re never going to be able to stop missing her.”

“No,” the girl spoke, pulling away to look at Lexa. “But it’s starting to hurt less. I don’t feel like I’m going to cry every time I hear her name and I don’t feel guilty for living anymore. Not always anyway. Is that bad?”

Lexa had spent nearly a week at the Crewe house after leaving college, but this was the first time she and the other girl had had the opportunity to talk about how they were feeling and how they were dealing with the gaping hole of loss in their lives. They hadn’t seen each other before six days earlier since the previous summer, when the Crewe family had moved away and Lexa had left for college. “Me too,” Lexa agreed. “I’m starting to hurt less as well.”

“I think that’s good,” she nodded, “Costia would want us to both get over it, to move on with our lives.”

Lexa saw the train quickly approaching the station and pulled her best friend into a hug once more. “I promise to text you as soon as I get back to TonDC.”

“Tell everyone I say hi and that I miss then,” the girl insisted. Lexa nodded, knowing how hard it was for the girl to be away from their friends, especially since her mom hadn’t been able to afford to send her to college.

“I will Caris,” Lexa nodded. “Love you.”

“Love you too, Little Commander,” Caris smiled as she gestured for Lexa to board the train, bringing back the nickname Lexa had earned from the Crewe twins back in elementary school. Lexa stuck her tongue out at the girl before boarding the train and blowing her a kiss.

The train ride back to TonDC was relatively uneventful and Lexa had managed to snag a window seat, placing her duffle bag on the seat beside her, preventing anyone from sitting there. The last thing she wanted was for a chatty Cathy to try and talk to her while Lexa mentally prepared herself for returning home.

After finishing her freshman year at NYU, it had been been easy to visit the Crewe family’s new house upstate. She’d been promising all school year to visit, but her classes had been harder than she’d anticipated and she hadn’t had the chance to visit. She also wasn’t sure if she’d be able to visit them in their new home, knowing it was a place that Costia would never see. But in the end, it was easier to go from school to their new home, than to go straight back to her own home. Even though it had been two years since Costia had died, TonDC still felt plagued by the girl’s ghost.

Lexa knew that she should have called either Anya or her father to come pick her up from the train, but she wasn’t ready to see them quite yet. She knew it was rude, that they missed her and so did Tris, but Lexa wanted to avoid the Inn and whatever tourists were there for as long as possible. She would just tell them she didn't want to bother them, they’d believe her. Instead she texted the person who she knew would be there in an instant to pick her up.

As soon as Lexa got off the train and started looking around for her ride, she was immediately swept up into a bear hug.

“Lincoln! You’re crushing me!” She yelled out with a laugh, causing the large boy to let go of her.

“How’s my favorite college girl?” he asked, grinning at her.

“Of course I’m your favorite,” Lexa rolled her eyes, “I’m your only college girl.” Lexa wasn’t the only one from their graduating class to attend college, there had been a handful. Most of her classmates that were going to college though were going to community college. Of her high school friends though, Lexa was the only one in college at all.

“Fair enough,” Lincoln conceded as he threw an arm around her shoulders, “Now let’s go get trashed to celebrate your return.” He led her to his pick up and threw her duffle in the back for her before driving back to his house where they left the car then walked down to the beach where a bonfire had already started and beers were plentiful.

* * *

 

Hours later, Lexa received a text that pulled her away from the party. She knew her response would give away the fact that she was drunk, but Lexa didn’t care.

> **Anya** : wtf Lex? I thought you were coming home today.  
>  **Lexa** : i am home. with linc and ertyone at bech

As much as she didn’t want to leave her friends, the party was dying down as it was and Lexa had to grab her duffle from Lincoln’s car before she started her short walk home.

> **Lexa** : b home soon  
>  **Anya** : whatever drunk skunk. I left the backdoor unlocked, please lock it once you come in. And try not to be loud, we’ve got a pretty full house.

The walk home to Polis Inn sobered Lexa up slightly, but by the time she arrived she was still drunk. One look at at the driveway told her that the Inn was at full capacity. She groaned realizing that she would probably be woken up early as a result. If she wasn’t woken up to make the complimentary breakfast that her father insisted be made from scratch each day, then she would definitely be woken up by a screaming child or arguing couples. Vacations brought out the worst in people. She groaned at the thought of her impending hangover.

She walked down her driveway, heading toward the back entrance to her house, the one was for her and her family only when she passed by an obnoxious looking Porsche. “It’s like the rich person’s version of mini-van,” she scoffed.

“Tell me about it,” another voice returned.

Lexa spun around, unaware that she hadn’t been alone. She didn’t recognize the voice, but she was also drunk. She just hoped she wasn’t imagining it, because the voice sounded a hell of a lot like Costia’s. It was deep like her’s, and also had the same lilt as the dead girl’s. The brunette sighed in relief though as a blonde girl rounded the corner and revealed herself. Lexa’s relief that she hadn’t been hallucinating her dead girlfriend’s was short lived, however, as she realized how hot the girl in front of her was. She was wearing linen pajama shorts that barely covered her ass and a matching tank top without a bra. If she weren’t drunk and horny, Lexa would have realized how ridiculous it was that the girl was wearing a matching pajama set. Lexa always wore large t-shirts to bed.

It wasn’t until the girl stretched her arms above her head, revealing a stripe of skin above her shorts that Lexa realized that the blonde knew that she was checking her out and was egging her on. She quickly snapped her eyes up to the blonde’s. Blue. The girl had blue eyes. Costia’s had been brown.

“Can I help you?” Lexa snapped, crossing her arms across her chest.

“I could ask you the same,” the blonde mimicked her pose. “I was just minding my own business, drawing when I was rudely interrupting by some drunk chick who talks to herself and checks out total strangers who are in their pajamas.” She gestured to the sketchbook she was holding as if to prove her point.

“Remind me to never ask you that question again, because to be honest, I have no interest in every helping you,” Lexa didn’t like to be around people who were sassy back to her. The was her job. “And for your information, I live here, so I’m allowed to be as fucking loud and drunk as I want.” She raised her voice, trying to prove her own point.

“Really? Because it looks like your just moving in,” the blonde gestured to Lexa’s duffle, taking several steps closer to her.

“Unfortunately yes, I do live here,” Lexa took a few drunken steps closer to the girl, not willing to back down first.

“What a glowing review of this place,” the girl laughed and Lexa smelled her fruity-scented shampoo as her blonde hair flicked around in the wind. It was intoxicating and caught Lexa off guard. She silently cursed Lincoln for getting her so drunk. “What was that?” the girl asked. It took Lexa a moment to realize that she’d been muttering under her breath.

“I said that you should watch who you’re talking to,” the elementary school level threat was the first thing that came to Lexa’s mind. She took another step forward, hoping that would make her seem more intimidating.

“And why is that?” the blonde took another step as well and they were standing toe-to-toe. Lexa could see the mole above the girl’s lip, the creases in lips, the shine of chapstick on them. The girl coughed, causing Lexa to immediately draw her gaze up to the girl’s eyes. That wasn’t much better though. She could get lost in those blue eyes. Even in the dimly lit driveway though, Lexa could tell that her eyes were more than just blue.

“Because I sort of run this place with my family. This same place I’m assuming you’re staying at judging by the fact that you’re out in public in your pajamas,” Lexa smirked, impressed by her retort.

“So what your saying is that you know where I sleep?” the blonde smirked back in return and Lexa’s legs felt weak. She quickly glanced back down at the girl’s lips, and when she looked back up at her eyes, she saw that the blue orbs were looking down at Lexa’s lips.

“What the fuck Lexa?” Anya’s voice startled the two teens to the point where they literally jumped away from each other. “What happened to being quiet and…oh I’m sorry Clarke. Was my idiot, drunkard sister bothering you?

Clarke, her name was Clarke.

“Yes that is my name,” Clarke laughed and Lexa realized that yet again, she’d spoken out-loud instead of thinking. She must have been drunker than she’d originally thought.

Lexa quickly hoisted her duffle further up on to her shoulder and turned around, brushing past Anya as she headed inside. She heard Anya talking to Clarke, but Lexa was back inside before she could make out what they were saying. She didn’t wait for Anya to return, instead she headed straight to her room where she through her duffel on the ground and flopped on to her bed. The ceiling around her started to spin and she was drunker than she’d been in a while. She didn’t have friends at school to get drunk with and she was a little out of practice.

She shimmied out of her jeans and took her bra off, but kept her t-shirt on. She crawled under her covers and for the first time in years, when she went to bed thinking about a girl, it wasn’t Costia. It was a girl named Clarke. A girl she already knew she was going to hate. Or was it hate?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you liked it ;)
> 
> madgirlbackhome.tumblr.com


	3. You Held My Hair Back While I Puked So Now We're Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a long one since I didn't post yesterday

Clarke didn’t bother to wait for her mom and Marcus in the morning, opting instead to head down to breakfast on her own. She’d only been at the Polis Inn less than a week, but the one thing she learned about the inn, was how great the breakfast was. She would never admit it to anyone, but she actually didn’t hate staying at the Inn.

As she was walking down the stairs, already dressed in her bathing suit with a coverup over it with her art supplies in her beach bag, Clarke did a double take at the photo of the three Woods girls on the beach. She’d figured the middle sister, Lexa, would look different than the way she had in the photo, but Clarke had almost not recognized her the night before when she’d found her drunkenly laughing at her mom’s car. The girl from the night before did not seem nearly as put together as the girl in the photo. She’d been dressed in jeans that had been torn from wear, not artistically and her hair had been greasy, braids only barely hiding the fact that it had clearly not been washed in a while. In the photo, Lexa’s eyes had been only somewhat visible, but they’d appeared to be alive, full of life. The Lexa Clarke had met the night before had eyes that were dead, ones she knew could have sparkled in the moonlight, but instead the only flickered with drunken abandon, there was no excitement behind them. Also, she seemed like she was a bit of an asshole.

Shrugging off the entire encounter, Clarke continued making her way downstairs to the kitchen where a couple on their honeymoon and a family with two small kids were already eating. So far Clarke had not bothered to meet any of the other guests, especially knowing that they weren’t staying as long as she was, and she had no intention of changing that.

After pouring herself a cup of coffee and crabbing a piece of homemade coffee cake, Clarke took a seat at the table in the corner of the dining room and pulled out her sketchpad. She’d noticed that people were more likely to ignore her if she looked busy and like she wasn’t looking for company.

“Look who finally decided to show her face,” Clarke heard Anya say from the kitchen. She paused her pencil above the paper and listened in on the conversation occurring on the other side of the wall beside her.

“Too loud Anya, too loud,” Lexa groaned in return.

“Well since you slept through prepping breakfast, you can go see what needs to be refilled, I think the OJ might need to be refilled.”

The girl groaned in response. Clarke listened to see if should would respond in any other way, but she didn’t have to because the brunette appeared in the dining room. She was wearing khaki shorts and a Polis Inn t-shirt. Her hair was back in a long, single braid and looked like it had actually been washed. Even from her profile though, Clarke could see the dark circles under her eyes. The girl must have been hella hungover. Clarke smirked to herself as she saw and opportunity and went with it.

“Hey Lexa!” she spoke especially loudly as the girl walked past her.

Lexa jumped and nearly dropped the tray she was holding before cringing. “Can I help you?”

“I thought you were never going to ask that of me again,” Clarke smirked at her success.

“I don’t even know who you are,” Lexa spoke before her already pale face drained completely, a look of revelation crossing her face.

“Clarke,” Clarke extended a hand to the girl. “I’m Clarke Griffin, the one who caught you sneaking home last night drunk as fuck.”

The girl tried to quickly recover as she responded, “Right, I remember you. The girl who walks around outside nearly naked in a town she doesn’t know. In the middle of the night.”

“Yep,” Clarke popped the ‘p’ at the end of the word. “That’s me.” Clarke wasn’t one to step down easily. Lexa wasn’t going to one-up Clarke by commenting on her appearance. Clarke had no shame when it came to how she dressed, in fact she was pretty unapologetic about almost everything in her life, from her wardrobe choices to her sexuality.

“Woah!” a new voice interjected from over Clarke’s shoulder. She looked around and saw that it was Tris. “Your drawing is really good!”

Clarke glanced down at the sketchbook beside her breakfast that was still open. She was working on the sketch she’d started the night before of the moonlight ocean. When she’d been unable to sleep, she’d walked down to the beach. She’d seen the bonfire further down the beach, but had focused instead on the water and the moon that had lit it. She’d only headed back once she realized that those at the bonfire were leaving as well and since she had no idea who those people were, she’d figured it was safer to get back to the inn.

“Thank you,” Clarke responded. She generally only had time for her art during the summer, as during the school year she had to focus on schoolwork. She didn’t show her sketches to many people, but appreciated any compliments she did get.

“Can you teach me to draw like that?” Tris asked, her eyes alight in wonder. Clarke remembered what it was like to be thirteen and full of wonder. She remembered wanting to get better drawing herself when she was thirteen. She remembered the person who convinced her to take classes outside of school. Her heart skipped a beat as she remembered her best friend.

“Definitely!” Clarke finally responded with enthusiasm. If she believed in heaven, then she knew that there were two people watching down on her, both equally excited by her response. They were the two that had always hoped Clarke would do more with her art.

“Really?” Tris asked. She clearly hadn’t been expecting Clarke to say yes to her, and certainly not so enthusiastically. “Can you start today?”

“Sure, why not,” Clarke laughed in response.

“Stop being rude to the guests Tris,” Lexa admonished, interjecting herself in the conversation.

Clarke saw the smile quickly drop from Tris’ face, but she was determined to put it back and turned so that her back was to Lexa and she was facing the younger girl more directly. “I’d love to work on sketching with you today Tris. Maybe in an hour or so we can sit on the porch and work there.”

The smile quickly returned to the younger blonde’s face as she nodded excitedly before sticking her tongue out at her older sister, while her oldest sister looked on from the kitchen with a smile on her face. Clarke was tempted to see Lexa’s reaction to the exchange, but when she turned around, Lexa was already gone.

 

* * *

 

Clarke worked with Tris for several hours, never getting bored. They’d been drawing nearly non-stop all day, breaking only for lunch that Gustus provided, insisting that Clarke take some as well. She remembered her first lessons and tried to repurpose them for Tris. The younger girl was pretty naturally talented, so she was definitely easy to instruct. They’d played around with shapes and easy objects before deciding to do something fun and were drawing portraits of each other.

While they were drawing each other, Abby and Marcus returned from the beach on a tandem bike. Clarke nearly barfed at the sight, but even she had to admit how much at ease they seemed together on the bike. Marcus waved to her as they pulled into the driveway, but Clarke ignored him until the two approached her on the porch.

“Will you be ready in like half an hour to go to dinner?” Abby asked.

“Yeah, we’re just finishing up for today,” Clarke explained. Tris had already told her that she was meeting up with her friends in town before too long and they’d already made plans to draw together every day after breakfast for at least a little while until one or both of them got bored of it. Clarke didn’t think she would. So far, Tris was the only good thing about spending the summer in TonDC.

“Great, we’re going to try that lobster place Gustus recommended,” Marcus spoke.

“Lemkin’s Fishery?” Tris asked.

“That’s the one!” Marcus exclaimed.

“My friend Reese’s dad owns that place. The crab cakes are really good,” the younger girl explained.

“I’ll have to try them then,” Clarke’s stepdad smiled. “Well I better go get ready then.” He and Abby waved to them.

Several minutes later both blonde girls decided that they were finished and they counted down from three before showing each other their sketches. Clarke’s sketch was hyper-realistic, but with one supernatural element. She’d made Tris a pirate warrior after the girl had told her that that was what she’d wanted to be when she was younger. Tris’ drawing of Clarke wasn’t nearly as good and her eyes were two different sizes, but Clarke admired it nonetheless. They exchanged drawings, each wanting to keep the others, when Anya came out on to the porch.

“Have you guys really been out here all day?” she asked. They both nodded. “You’re crazy. Anyway, Clarke, there’s a big bonfire down at the beach tonight and I wanted to see if you were interested in joining.”

“Uhh,” Clarke responded tentatively. Spending time with Tris was one thing, but it was another to commit to spending time with the older girl and her friends.

“There’s going to be a ton of people there, you won’t be the only one your age, I promise. We’ve got a group of us ranging from my age, which is twenty-three and puts me at the oldest end of the range, to a few who just graduated high school. Basically it’s everyone who’s graduated high school in the past few years from this side of town all coming together and getting drunk together,” Anya further explained.

“Yeah, okay. That sounds like fun,” Clarke nodded. Even though it had only been about a week since she’d gone to a party, she was already starting to feel bored. Back home, she would go to parties with Bell and Raven almost every day in the summer, often even with Bellamy’s younger sister Octavia.

“Great,” Anya grinned. “Just meet downstairs at nine.”

“Nine,” Clarke nodded, “Sounds good.”

****

After dinner with her mom and Marcus, Clarke hurried back to their suite where she spent over an hour getting ready for the evening. She did her make up and curled her hair slightly before changing her outfit six times. She had no idea what kind of clothing was appropriate to wear to a bonfire, so she decided to wear something that she would wear to a more casual gathering back at home. In the end, she opted to wear dark skinny jeans, a blue silk tank top and wedges. By the time she was ready, it was 8:58, so not wanting Anya to have to wait for her, she hurried down the stairs and waited at the bike rake.

Anya arrived only a minute after Clarke, much more casually dressed. She gave herself only a second to feel uncomfortable though before putting on a smile and greeting Anya. She was just going to have to live up to what she was wearing. She was waving at Anya when she noticed that Anya wasn’t alone, that Lexa was with her.

“Oh, hi Lexa,” Clarke smiled a sickly sweet smile.

“What are you doing here?” Lexa asked, clearly equally as confused by Clarke’s presence as Clarke had been by hers.

“I invited her,” Anya interjected before Clarke had the chance to respond herself. “She’s spending the summer here, so she might as well meet everyone. She will sooner or later.”

“Whatever,” Lexa rolled her eyes. “Let’s just go.”

Clarke watched as Lexa pulled a bike out of the bike rack, followed by Anya doing the same. She was now comfortable with her choice in attire, but there was nothing Clarke could do to avoid the awkward encounter that was about to happen. “Are we riding bikes?” she asked tentatively.

Lexa rolled her eyes and Anya responded, “Yeah. We ride bikes everywhere here. Just grab one.”

Clarke looked down at her feet, trying to decide if she could use her wedges as an excuse, but realized that wasn’t exactly a valid excuse. She could always take them off. “I don’t know how to ride a bike,” she finally admitted.

“Of course Princess doesn’t know how to ride a bike,” Lexa laughed as she started down the driveway. Looking with disappointment at her sister, Anya dismounted her own bike and returned it to the rack.

“That’s fine,” Anya spoke. “It’s not a far walk. I’ll walk with you.” Clarke thanked the older girl before they started their walk to the beach, ignoring the fact that Lexa had left without them.

Clarke was immediately impressed b the size of the bonfire when she arrived. It was nearly as tall as she was and was surrounded by people all around her age. Clarke caught sight of Lexa’s red flannel, but quickly turned away from it as Anya introduced her to her best friend, Echo.

Growing up in New York City, Clarke was used to people with weird names. Her name was Clarke and one of her best friend’s name was Bellamy. Strange names were nothing new to her, her version of uncommon were names like Emily and Tom, not names like Octavia or Monty. Echo though, that was a new name for her. She shrugged off the oddity though as soon as the older girl provided her a red solo cup full of jungle juice, explaining that while they usually just drank beer, it was a special occasion which was why everyone had pitched in for hard liquor.

“What’s the occasion?” Clarke asked after taking a sip of the very strong drink.

“Summer,” Echo explained with a shrug. “And the few kids who actually go to college are finally back.”

“Gotcha,” Clarke nodded. It didn’t surprise her that most of the townies hadn’t gone to college, they didn’t really seem the type to dedicate themselves to their studies. Echo and Anya continued to walk around, introducing Clarke to their friends, when a tall boy approached them, looking at Clarke with scrutiny.

“You must be Clarke,” he stated.

“Uhh, yeah,” she responded. She’d already met a lot of people, but was pretty sure the boy in front of her was not one of them.

Sensing her confusion and discomfort, he explained himself. “Sorry, it’s just that word spreads fast here and we don’t exactly get new faces around here often. Or ever. I’m Lincoln.” He extended his hand and Clarke shook it. He seemed nice enough. He was the first to come up to her directly to introduce himself. “Anyway, I’m sure hanging out with Anya and the other older kids is fun, but I was just coming to see if you wanted to hang with some of us that are actually close in age to you.” He smirked at Anya who just rolled his eyes at him. There was a sense of familiarity between the two, and not one that came just from attending the same high school, they clearly knew each other well.

“Uh yeah, sure,” Clarke nodded, already starting to feel the affects of the alcohol she’d been drinking, and let Lincoln guide her to the other side of the bonfire where a smaller group of teens were sitting in a circle.

“Guys, this is Clarke,” Lincoln spoke, interrupting the group’s discussion, introducing them all to the stranger. Clarke gave an awkward wave and nodded as he introduced her to Penn, Artigas, Emori and Harper. Emori and Harper scooted over so that Clarke had a place to sit between them.

“Alright, I got drunk Jenga,” a voice spoke from behind Clarke. She recognized Lexa’s voice almost immediately.

“Lexa, have you met Clarke yet?” Harper asked, gesturing to the blonde beside her.

Clarke watched as Lexa’s eyes darted down to her before offering Harper a smile. “I have actually, we met last night.”

“So you remember it this time then,” Clarke responded with a smirk.

Lexa seemed to ignore Clarke’s comment as she took the oversized Jenga pieces and began to set them up on the table that was at the center of their circle. “Do you at least know how to play Jenga?” Lexa asked, clearly harkening back on the fact that Clarke didn’t know how to ride a bike. She was glad that Lexa didn’t directly call her out on that though.

“Yes, I know how to play Jenga,” Clarke responded. She was glad that the was actually something that she did know how to play. There was only so much awkward she could handle in one night.

“Alright then, why don’t you start us off?” Lexa gestured to the now fully complete Jenga tower.

Clarke shrugged and quickly picked a piece that looked easy to remove, she nudged the piece out before reading it aloud, “Pick a drinking partner.” Clarke smirked, happy with the tile she’d gotten and arched her eyebrows at Lexa. “Lexa.” Everyone around them laughed, already picking up on the odd tension between the pair.

The game got rowdy fairly quickly and Clarke was getting drunk twice as fast with Lexa as her partner. She’d drunk when college students were supposed to and was surprised when Lexa did too until she realized that Lexa had to drink each time she did. Clarke figured she was allowed to call herself a college student, as she’d be starting her freshman year in less than three months. They drank again when Lexa lost a round of categories and after Artigas pulled ‘All Girls Drink’.

The round after Lexa pulled ‘Take Off One Article of Clothing,’ and took off her flannel, revealing a tight tank top, Clarke carefully pulled a piece from the teetering tower that read, ‘Give the Person Across From You a Lap Dance’.

Clarke didn’t have to look up to know who was sitting across from her. She gulped as Harper looked over her shoulder and read the tile out loud, eliciting a few hoots and a whistle. In the short time she’d been talking and playing with the group, Clarke had easily fallen into their dynamic, and they clearly felt at ease around her. When she finally looked up at the girl sitting across from her, Lexa was smirking and gestured from Lexa to get started.

After Clarke stood up, she first approached Artigas. She gestured for him to hand her the speakers which were connected to his phone. She disconnected his phone before connecting hers and scrolling through for the perfect song. “You can’t just use any song for a lap dance,” she explained, eliciting a few more whistles. She could have blamed her brazen behavior on the alcohol, but at home she was the same way, unapologetically sexual.

The first beats of the female acoustic cover version of No Diggity started playing and Artigas cheered. Raven had put the song on her phone, and Clarke had to admit that it had come in handy on more than one occasion. Lexa looked at Clarke with a look of amusement and Clarke closed the distance between them, carefully avoiding the table so as not to accidentally knock down the Jenga tower.

Clarke maintained Lexa’s eye contact as she finally reached her. She didn’t spend more than a second in front of Lexa however, before walking behind her. She’d only ever given a lap dance with an actual chair and Lexa was only sitting on a log, but she could improvise. She moved her hips sensually as she walked around Lexa, placing a hand on her shoulder as she dropped to the ground behind her. Everyone cheered and Clarke could feel the tension rising in Lexa’s shoulder, but the brunette refused to turn around.

The blonde ran a hand through her hair as she spun back around to Lexa’s front, moving her body to the beat of the music. She was thoroughly enjoying the fact that nobody in the circle knew who it was that was singing the song that was playing through the speakers.

Clarke placed both her hands on Lexa’s shoulder before maneuvering her way around her legs so that she was straddling them while still standing. She lowered herself up and down on her lap, barely touching the girl’s bare legs. She watched as the girl’s green eyes grew dark with widening pupils. She could almost feel Lexa’s heightened heart rate. Just as quickly as she had straddled Lexa, Clarke pulled away to preform more for the rest of the group.

And that’s when she started singing. Clarke heard the hitch in Lexa’s breathing at the same time everyone else realized that Clarke’s voiced exactly matched that of the voice coming through the speakers, low, gruff and sexual. They didn’t cheer this time, but rather whispered words of surprise. They clearly hadn’t been expecting to be so fully prepared for the night. They were beyond impressed by her.

Clarke fed off their excitement as she finished off the song, dancing to them before turning around and taunting Lexa more until the song finally ended and Clarke plopped down on Lexa’s lap wrapping an arm around her shoulders with a laugh. Everyone cheered and Lexa started at Clarke. Clarke must have been pretty drunk, because all she could do was smile and look at the girl’s green eyes.

“That was quite the show,” Lexa smirked. Neither of them commented on the fact that Clarke was still sitting comfortably on the girl’s lap.

“I’m glad you liked it,” Clarke smiled.

“What makes you think I liked it?” the brunette asked.

“Oh I don’t know,” Clarke shrugged. “Maybe the fact that your pupils are blown and you’re still struggling to get your heart rate down.” She quickly placed a kiss on Lexa’s cheek as the brunette’s face turned red and stood up, returning to her seat as Lincoln burst out laughing, the only one who had heard the entire exchange.

It was becoming clear that after Clarke’s turn, the Jenga tower wasn’t going to last another round, but nobody wanted to be the one that caused the fall, as that would mean they’d have to chug a full cup of jungle juice.

When it was Lexa’s turn, she started to grab a loose tile. The tile was halfway out when the brunette snuck a peak at the challenge that was on the tile. She then pushed the tile back and started to grab another.

“That’s cheating!” Clarke exclaimed. Everyone looked at her and she elaborated, “Once you pick a tile, you can’t change and pick a new one.”

“She’s right,” Lincoln nodded in agreement.

“Shit,” Lexa muttered before returning to her originally piece. Clarke watched as her hands shook slightly. The piece was loose and Lexa should have had no trouble whatsoever retrieving it from the tower without disturbing its structure. Which is why Clarke was confused as to why Lexa somehow knocked the whole thing down.

As everyone alternated between groaning and cheering at Lexa’s fail, Clarke’s sights remained on the piece that Lexa so badly wanted to switch out. She saw it land on the table close to her and could read it easily, ‘Make Out with Your Partner’. Suddenly Clarke was immensely glad that Lexa had chosen to knock the tower down herself. She was drunk, but not drunk enough to know that making out with the girl she was sharing a home with for the summer was a very bad idea. No matter how hot she was.

Lincoln ran and quickly filled two cups the whole way up with jungle juice, handing one each to Clarke and Lexa. “I should have picked a different partner,” Clarke groaned as her stomach turned at the smell of the jungle juice.

Lexa laughed and looped her drinking arm around Lexa’s. Emori counted down from three before both Clarke and Lexa started chugging. Clarke finished first and held her cup up in success. Lexa finished only a few seconds after her.

Now that the game was over, the smaller group joined the rest of the group around the bonfire. It didn't take long for Clarke to realize that chugging the last cup of jungle juice was probably a bad idea. She could feel herself stumbling and her stomach churning.

“Clarke, are you okay?” Lexa asked, seeing Clarke’s pale face, coming up alongside her and placing a friendly hand on her back.

“Just too much of the jungle juice,” Clarke admitted with a laugh.

“Come on,” Lexa spoke. “We’ll get away from the heat of the fire and walk around, get some clean fresh air in you.”

Clarke nodded because she didn’t know what else to do. Lexa waved goodbye to her friends, all the while keeping a hand on Clarke’s back as Clarke focused on keeping her breath even. The last thing she wanted was to vomit in front of the people she was starting to see herself becoming friends with. Lexa led her off the beach so that they were walking on the street and she was right, the cooler air was definitely helping Clarke.

“Sorry for taking you away from your friends,” Clarke apologized.

“It’s fine,” Lexa shook her head. “They were being assholes anyway. Besides, you looked like you were about to vom all over Lincoln. Which would have been really amusing on my part because he’s vommed on me and…and a friend on multiple occasions. But I figured you would majorly regret that in the morning.”

Clarke was too drunk to recognize the way Lexa had stumbled over her words in the middle of her sentence so she just nodded. “Okay, but you don’t even like me.”

“I barely know you Clarke,” Lexa laughed. “I think you’re annoying, but I don’t dislike you.”

“Hold that thought,” Clarke spoke as she held a hand to her mouth. She ran off to the bushes alongside the road before bending over and retching. She felt cool hands hold her hair back and rub circles on her back, speaking reassuring words.

When she finished throwing up, Clarke found a tissue and a piece of gum in her pocket. The few times she’d gone out with Bellamy’s sister Octavia had taught her that they two items were valuable to bring out at night. She wiped her mouth off and stuck the gum in her mouth, throwing away the tissue and wrapper in a close by trashcan.

“Well now I’m seriously embarrassed,” Clarke laughed, looking at Lexa.

“Don’t be,” the brunette shrugged. “It happens to all of us.”

“You know what this means, don’t you?” Clarke asked, feigning a very serious look on her face.

“Uh no, what?” Lexa asked.

“It means we need a truce. You’ve seen me puke my guts out and I’ve seen you get all hot and flustered, so we need a truce.”

“A truce?”

“Yes, it means we’re going to be friends now.” Clarke remembered how her friendship with Raven had started in a very similar way, with a truce and a pact to be friends after discovering that they were both being cheated on as high school freshmen.

“Okay,” Lexa spoke tentatively before extending her arm, ready to shake Clarke’s hand.

“Nope,” Clarke shook her head. “Now if I hadn’t just been puking, I would kiss your cheek to seal the deal, but instead we’re just going to hug it out.”

“Okay,” Lexa laughed as Clarke pulled her into a hug.

Neither of them acknowledged the fact that holding each other felt like coming home, that there bodies fit perfectly together And neither girl remarked about the fact that it took a long minute before either pulled out of the hug, wanting it to las longer even after it ended.

And with that, they were friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder how long they can stay "just friends" for?
> 
> madgirlbackhome.tumblr.com


	4. Don't Let Me Burn

Following their drunken night at the bonfire, Lexa and Clarke kept to their arrangement to stop berating each other and actually act like friends. In theory, this worked well, but in practice, not so much. Lexa found being friends with Clarke to be exceedingly difficult. Not because they didn’t get along, they actually found themselves to be quite similar in many ways, but because Clarke was a guest at Lexa’s family home and Lexa had to treat her as such.

Lexa enjoyed watching Clarke and Tris spend their mornings drawing together, but Clarke was just filling her time while Lexa was working. All of Lexa’s friends worked and that was why it was hard for them to really be friends the way they should have been able to.

They were awkward around each other at the Inn, so about a week after they decided to be friends, Lexa took it on herself to quash the awkward tension between them. Clarke had just finished working with Tris and had gone up to her room to get changed into her bathing suit and go to the beach.

After putting on the dishwasher, Lexa climbed up to the third floor and made her way to the suite at the end of the hall. She figured that Clarke was probably in her room in the suite, so she let herself in with her master key. She smiled as she walked in, hearing Clarke singing to herself. She had the intention of going in and catching Clarke off guard with a laugh before they talked, but the laugh got caught in Lexa’s throat as she looked through the girl’s open doorway.

Clarke was in her bathing suit, a skimpy bikini and was struggling to tie the strings on the top. Fuck, Lexa thought. The last thing she needed was to get caught ogling her friend after they only just agreed to be friends. But then again, they had started their friendship by acknowledging their chemistry, hadn’t they?

“Need some help with that?” Lexa asked, leaning casually against the door jamb, hoping she looked suave.

Clarke yelped and dropped the strings she’d been holding, causing the triangle top to fall, revealing a pair of large, perfectly shaped breasts that Lexa tried not to stare at. Thankfully Clarke quickly turned around and covered them up with her arms. 

“What the hell Lexa? Knock much?”

“Even if I did, I don’t think you’d be able to hear me over your singing,” Lexa laughed.

Clarke grunted and looked over her shoulder at Lexa, “Well if you’re here, you might as well make yourself useful and tie me up.”

“I’d love to tie you up Clarke,” Lexa spoke, her voice deepening as she played into the moment. 

Clarke simply rolled her eyes at the statement as Lexa approached her from behind. The girl pulled the bathing suit back over her breasts and held it in place while Lexa brushed the girl’s blonde hair out of the way. Lexa watched as goosebumps rose on the girl’s neck. She blew lightly on the skin and chuckled at the sight the number of goosebumps multiplying in numbers. Clarke shivered, only realizing what Lexa had done after she chuckled.

“Stop being an ass and just tie it,” Clarke huffed.

Lexa relented and tied the girl’s bathing suit. Once it was double knotted, she double tapped Clarke’s shoulders and said, “Alright, you’re good.”

Satisfied Clarke turned around and Lexa kept her eyes trained on Clarke’s face, not letting them fall down to view Clarke’s ample cleavage. Obviously realizing what Lexa was struggling not to do, Clarke smirked before taking a step closer to Lexa. They stood with barely an inch between them until Clarke reached forward and grabbed a dress the was hanging behind Lexa before stepping away and pulling the dress over her head.

It was only once Clarke was wearing the dress that Lexa realized that her heart rate was racing.

“So what are you doing in here anyway?” Clarke asked, “Besides being totally creepy that is.”

It took Lexa a moment to remember why she’d been looking for Clarke in the first place. “We need to hang out away from this place. We haven’t since last week at the bonfire, and it’s a little weird to be here where I work and be friends with you.” Lexa tried to ignore the fact that her words sounded like a relationship talk and not a friendship one.

“So come to the beach with me then,” Clarke shrugged, clearly not catching on to the awkward nature of Lexa’s speech.

“I can’t,” Lexa sighed, “There’s a couple checking in today. I need to make sure there room is ready.”

“So meet me at the beach when you’re done then. I’ll be the one tanning gloriously in the sun,” she smirked.

“Alright, I will,” Lexa nodded. “I guess I better go get that room ready then.”

“You go do that.”

Lexa left Clarke alone in her room and set about organizing the room for the new arrivals. Luckily, Tris wasn’t busy so she offered to help Lexa, something Anya would never have don, and in less than an hour Lexa was dressed and ready for the beach. She grabbed a bike and headed to the beach with a towel hung over one shoulder.

The beach wasn’t terribly crowded, it never was in TonDC. They didn’t have a very big tourist presence. In fact, the Polis Inn was the only inn in town. There were a few summer tourists that didn’t stay at the inn, but those were generally families that owned houses by the beach, but were only second homes. Those tourists generally only came during the summer. Their homes were unoccupied for the rest of the year.

Clarke was easy to spot once she made it to the beach. While all the locals were relaxing in groups on the sand on towels or in the water, there was one person sitting alone in a beach chair under a large umbrella. With a towel over her head. Lexa knew immediately that it was her friend. For the second time that day, Lexa surprised Clarke. 

“Boo!” she yelled as she grabbed both of Clarke’s shoulders from behind.

Naturally, Clarke yelped out in surprise, pulling the towel from over her face, frowning at Lexa. “You made me fuck up my sketch.”

Lexa glanced down at the sketchbook on Clarke’s lap. The girl was in the middle of sketching a scene from the bonfire the week before. Lexa could even pick out individual people. She herself was seen talking to Lincoln. The sketch looked about halfway complete and had one long pencil mark through the middle of it, clearly a result of her scaring the artist.

“Sorry,” Lexa spoke honestly. She took her towel from over her shoulder and lay it down beside Clarke’s chair. She pulled her t-shirt over her head and sat down on the towel, stretching out her legs and she looked up at Clarke, her eyes shaded by an old pair of dollar store sunglasses.

“It’s fine,” Clarke responded, reading Lexa’s honesty.

“So what’s the point of going to the beach if you’re just going to avoid the sun and sand at all costs?”

“I can’t draw in with the glare, and unfortunately I am not blessed with your clear ability to tan. If I look at the sun I turn into a lobster. And not the singing and dancing kind from The Little Mermaid,” the blonde explained with a serious look on her face.

“Have you not heard of sunscreen my fair skinned friend?” Lexa asked.

“Oh yes, yes I have,” Clarke maneuvered herself around and reached into the back pocket of her chair, withdrawing three bottles of high SPF sunscreen.

“You wanna blend in with the locals?” Lexa asked. Clarke nodded. “Alright, hand me a bottle of that and set your towel beside mine.”

Clarke looked doubtful, but went along with Lexa’s plan regardless. She spent several minutes making sure her towel was perfectly flat and free of sand before sitting down, carefully making sure the sand on her feet didn’t get on her towel.

“Alright, sunscreen,” Lexa handed the bottle back and Clarke applied a thick layer to herself, handing the bottle back to Lexa.

“Can you do my back?” the blonde asked.

Lexa nodded and gestured for Clarke to turn around. She quickly rubbed in the white cream, making sure she didn’t miss a spot. She smiled after Clarke turned around and saw that the blonde hadn’t fully rubbed in the sunscreen on her face. Lexa quickly fixed the problem as Clarke smiled brightly at her.

“Now what?” Clarke asked.

“We enjoy the sun,” Lexa smiled in return, leaning back her face turned toward the sun.

“Alright, but if I get burnt, you will be responsible for rubbing aloe all over my body whenever I ask for it and listening to my complains when I can’t sleep due to my skin being on fire.”

 

“Deal,” Lexa stuck out her hand and Clarke shook it.

The two friends spent several hours in the sun, mostly talking about Lexa’s friends whom Clarke had met several nights prior as well as the different jobs Lexa, her dad and her sisters had in the upkeep of the inn. It was Clarke’s grumbling stomach that finally forced them to leave.

Lexa helped Clarke gather her things and even offered to put it all in her beach locker so that she wouldn’t have to lug it all back to the inn. When they reached the end of the boardwalk, Lexa grabbed her bike and gestured to it as she said, “Get on behind me.”

Clarke looked skeptically at the townie, but in the end relented and hopped on behind Lexa, sitting on the small slat of plastic above the back wheel. It took several tries, but Lexa eventually got the balance of the bike and they were on their way.

“I can’t believe you like banana ice cream,” Clarke scoffed after they biked into town and each bought a cone of ice cream. 

Clarke sat down on a bench and Lexa shook her head as she sat down beside her. “Says the girl who is eating double chocolate chunk ice cream and getting it all over her face.”

Clarke stuck her tongue out Lexa, then used that same tongue to lick her ice cream and show it to the brunette. Lexa made a look of disgust, “Ew Clarke, that’s so gross.”

“No, it’s delicious,” Clarke repeated her action.

Lexa looked away from Clarke, not wanting to see the girl’s tongue covered in half-melted chocolate ice cream. Her eyes fell on a girl and a woman who must have been her mom. The girl looked to be around Lexa’s age. She had dark red hair that was pulled up into a ponytail. It looked like it had been a long time since it had been cut. Lexa was struck by the fact that the girl was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved sweater, despite the fact that it was ninety degrees out.

Lexa could hear Clarke still licking her ice cream, purposely doing so loudly, when the redhead met her gaze. The girl smiled, said something to her mother, then stood up and approached the bench where Lexa and Clarke were sitting.

“Hey,” the redhead spoke after she reached the bench. “So I just moved to town and literally know no one. My mom is being an ass and honestly I just want to get away from her for a bit. Mind if I hang with you guys?”

“Uhh,” Lexa stuttered.

“Sure!” Clarke responded happily. She scooted over, pushing Lexa to the side, and patted the seat beside her.

Lexa peered around Clarke’s body to look at the girl. Seeing that Clarke had chocolate over her face though, Lexa shook her head and removed the napkin from around her cone. She took the napkin and roughly rubbed it on Clarke’s face until the chocolate was mostly gone. Her actions earned her a glare from the blonde and a laugh from the redhead.

“You guys are a cute couple,” the stranger spoke.

“We’re not a couple,” both Clarke and Lexa responded simultaneously.

“Sorry, my bad,” the redhead laughed. “I suppose I shouldn’t just assume that every set of two girls that act adorable together are dating. I mean, best friends do that all the time, don’t they? I have a habit of doing that, assuming people are gay. I’m not gay myself, but I still assume it. Wow, that makes me sound like I’m fetishizing gay people. I’m not, I promise. I have moms. Two moms that is. And I think that’s why I probably just assume things that I shouldn’t or maybe it’s the fact that I’m asexual myself and just have trouble deciphering the difference between friendship and hardcore sexual chemistry and wow, I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

Lexa couldn’t help but smile at the girl while Clarke broke out into laughter. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m bi, so you’re not completely off.” The blonde then looked to Lexa in aid.

Clarke’s statement, however, was completely new news to Lexa. She had no idea that Clarke was bi. “You have a keen gaydar,” Lexa added, “I’m kind of the opposite of straight myself.” She watched as Clarke’s eyebrows raised, but she didn’t say anything for several beats.

“I’m Clarke by the way,” the blonde spoke, offering a hand to the redhead to shake. “And my quote ‘not so straight end quote friend here is Lexa. I’m just here for the summer so I don’t know too much about the town, but Lexa has lived here her whole life.”

“Really?” the redhead asked, “That’s awesome. I’m from Boston myself, but my moms decided to move us out here after the school year ended. Decided they wanted a slower pace of life. Personally, I think they’re just going through their lesbian bed death phase, but who knows.”

As the strange girl spoke, Lexa took note of the way the girl’s collarbones protruded from her and the way she looked almost too thin. The girl seemed to notice the way Lexa was looking at her, but instead of questioning her in return, she simply smiled wider at Lexa.

“Wow, I’m a total ditz. I sit down with two girls who look around my age, falsely accuse them of dating each other, going off on a rant then ends in lesbian bed death and don’t actually introduce myself.”

This time both Lexa and Clarke asked. The redhead extended her arm and shook each of their hands before speaking again.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both. My name is Dylan Farrow-Connors.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well there we go! Name number 1!
> 
> madgirlbackhome.tumblr.com


	5. Teach Me To Ride/We All Have Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa teaches Clarke to ride a bike, secrets are revealed at a trio sleepover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry it's been so long! I didn't have a big muse for this fic, but I think I've got it back! I'm hoping to get on an update schedule of updating approximately twice a week now!

Clarke was busy with Tris and a couple of her friends, sharing sketches on the porch when Lexa joined them, wearing her Polis Inn uniform, a huge stain on the front.

“Wow, you’re looking sexy today,” the blonde teased, causing Lexa to give her the finger. Tris and her friends gasped at the gesture, but Clarke simply laughed.

“And here I was, busy getting all my work done early just so I could hang out with you. But now that I know how you really feel, I think I’m just going to call up Lincoln and see if he wants to come hang out with Dylan and I and you can just stay here,” Lexa threatened.

“We’re not even supposed to be going over to Dylan’s for another two hours,” Clarke laughed. “We decided to meet up after dinner specifically so that you had time to get changed and stuff after you got off work.”

“Well the snag in that plan is that it would take us an hour to walk over to her house. She lives on the other side of town,” Lexa explained. “So, of course, when I figured that out, I realized I needed to budget in another two hours or so in to the plan.”

“Why two hours?” Tris interjected, stealing the question from Clarke’s lips.

“Because I have to teach this loser-” she gestured to Clarke- “how to ride a bike.”

“You don’t know how to ride a bike?” Tris gasped, causing Clarke to turn bright red.

“You said you wouldn’t tell anyone!” Clarke reprimanded angrily.

Lexa shrugged and crossed her arms across her chest. “Well, you were annoying me. And besides, she would have figured it out when I was teaching you on our street. Now hurry up and finish with these twerps. I’m going to go get changed. I’ll meet you by the bike rack in ten.”

Lexa had retreated back into the inn before Clarke could even respond.

Clarke quickly finished up with Tris and her friends, promising to spend more time with them the next day before leaving to get changed herself. She changed out of a maxi dress and into shorts and a t-shirt she could wear with converse. It was the most casual outfit she owned, something she never wore. The sight was so foreign on her that she had to snapchat a selfie to her friends. Bellamy and Raven responded with one snap together, a selfie of the two of them wearing shocked expressions.

Clarke only briefly felt left out at the sight of the two of them hanging out together without her. She missed her friends. While she was glad that she had Lexa and Dylan now, and even a few of Lexa’s friends, Bellamy and Raven had been her best friends her entire life. She’d never gone more than a few weeks without seeing them and now they had been apart for nearly a month. In two months, they would be separated by state lines for college. It wasn’t her fault she missed them.

Instead of dwelling on the fact that her friends were enjoying each other without her, Clarke quickly left her room and met Lexa by the bike rack.

When Clarke arrived outside, Lexa was already leaning against the rack, her tank top risen slightly to expose a small strip of taut skin above her shorts line. Clarke tried not to gaze down at it, but failed miserably. If Lexa noticed, she didn’t say anything.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?” Clarke asked.

“Yes,” Lexa nodded. “Because I can’t handle you not knowing how to ride a bike anymore. It’s getting ridiculous.”

“Fine, but I’m blaming you if I get hurt.”

“Fair enough,” Lexa responded as she pulled a muddy yellow bike out of the bike rack. She pressed on each of the wheels, testing the air pressure, before wheeling it down the driveway to the road, Clarke followed obediently behind the brunette. “Okay, get on,” Lexa gestured to the bike as soon as they reached the pavement.

Tentatively, Clarke reached out and grabbed the handles. She swung one leg over the bike and rested her butt on the seat, standing on her tiptoes. “Now what?” she asked.

Clarke looked nervously at Lexa as the brunette placed one hand next to Clarke’s on the handle, the other on the seat behind her as she stood beside her. “Start peddling slowly. I’ll hold on to you.”

“Okay,” Clarke nodded. She lifted her feet up off of the ground and placed them on the peddles, glad to have Lexa holding her steady. She then began to peddle slowly. She picked up the pace a bit and she found it easier to maintain her balance. “Omigod! I’m doing it!” She turned around to look at Lexa and saw that she was no longer holding onto the bike.

Realizing she didn’t have anyone holding onto her, she began to freak out. She screamed, lost her balance and the bike quickly tipped over. She grunted as she hit the ground, the skin on her right arm and leg burning.

“Not a bad first try,” Lexa smirked as she stood above the blonde. Clarke glared in return.

“You let go,” Clarke frowned.

“I noticed,” Lexa chuckled. “Now get your ass up off the ground and try and again.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Nope,” Lexa shook her head. She extended her hand to the girl and Clarke reluctantly took it, allowing Lexa to help her stand up. She picked up the bike and held it steady. Clarke remained skeptical, but decided to remount the bike regardless.

It took her a while, and many falls, but eventually Clarke managed to get decent enough at riding the bike that her lesson was deemed a success.

“I need bandaids or something so that I’m not bleeding all over Dylan’s moms’ couches,” Clarke laughed as they returned the bike to the rack and she showed off the many cuts and bruises covering her limbs.

“And since I’m sure you’ve got a million gross rich-girl diseases, it’s probably not a bad idea to cover up your blood,” Lexa smirked. Clarke watched as the brunette walked over to the shed beside the house and withdrew from it a first aid kit. She tossed it to Clarke who promptly dropped it. “Nice catch.”

Clarke rolled her eyes and knelt down to open the kit. She rummaged around until she found enough antiseptic wipes and bandages to cover her wounds. Once she felt adequately covered in Disney princess bandaids, she hopped back onto the yellow bike, not even waiting for Lexa before starting to peddle away.

She knew Lexa was behind her though. If only because Lexa was the only one that knew the way to Dylan’s house.

 

* * *

 

After Dylan’s mom fed them homemade pizza, the girls all headed up to Dylan’s bedroom where they sat together on her California king bed to watch a movie. They quickly decided on a classic, Sweet Home Alabama.

“I’ve literally asked a million times for a TV in my bedroom, but my mom refuses to let me get one,” Clarke sighed as she spread out the blanket Dylan had just tossed her across the three of them.

“Seriously?” Lexa asked, her mouth open wide in surprise.

“Why is that so surprising?” Clarke crossed her arms across her chest defensively.

“I dunno,” Lexa shrugged. “I guess I just supposed that part of being spoiled means getting whatever you want.”

“You don’t know anything about my life at home,” Clarke sneered.

Over the years she’d tried to get Abby to allow her to have a television in her room, playing the dead-Daddy card, but to no avail. She’d even tried to convince her step-father to get one for her, knowing he wanted to get on her good side. He’d actually been open to the idea, but Abby had shut him down.

“Alright, let’s just calm down and watch the movie,” Dylan interjected, crawling up the bed to sit between Clarke and Lexa. “Let’s just agree to disagree. Or just all agree on the fact that I’m infinitely cooler than you both because I have my own TV in my room.”

Clarke leaned forward to look over Dylan’s body and met Lexa’s gaze. She nodded subtly before they both playfully slapped Dylan’s shoulders. As the movie progressed Lexa pointed out the inaccuracy behind the glass created by lightning striking sand. Dylan promptly pressed a hand over Lexa’s mouth each time she tried to bring it back up, as she was ruining the magic behind the love story.

When the movie concluded, Melanie and Jake finally having their first dance, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in!” Dylan yelled out.

A moment later, a woman entered the room. Clarke gathered it was Dylan’s mother, the one she hadn’t met yet. She was tall with dark skin and a soothing smile and was holding a tray full of food.

“Hi girls, I thought you guys might want some snacks, so I brought up ginger ales and some snacks,” she explained. “Lexa and Clarke right?” The two visitors nodded. “I’m Dylan’s other mom, you can call me Mara.”

Dylan crawled off the bed and took the tray from her mom before placing it on the bed. “Thanks Mom,” the redhead smiled.

“Are you two spending the night?” Mara asked.

Clarke and Lexa exchanged a look with Dylan. “You guys want to?” Dylan asked.

“Sure,” Clarke shrugged. If she was being honest, she wasn’t too keen on riding her bike back home in the dark.

“Okay,” Lexa nodded.

“Great! Well let me know if you guys end up needing anything else,” Mara spoke as she retreated.

“Thank you!” both Lexa and Clarke exclaimed simultaneously.

While Clarke was still watching the door Mara was leaving through, out of the corner of her eye she saw Dylan take a handful of the pills off the tray and down them all in one gulp with the aid of a can of ginger ale.

“Ooh, gummy bears!” Dylan exclaimed and Clarke turned to face her completely. “Okay, so here’s the deal,” Dylan maneuvered herself so that she was sitting cross-legged in her shorts and long-sleeved t-shirt.

Clarke couldn’t help but notice that every time they had hung out outside with Dylan, she wore long pants and a long-sleeved shirt, but when they were inside, Dylan had no problem wearing shorts. She always wore a long-sleeved shirt.

“Back at…home…” Dylan continued, pausing before the word ‘home’. “My friends and I played a game with gummy bears. Several different games actually, some of them traditional drinking games. I don’t drink, but I’ve played with the gummy bears in lieu of alcohol. How do you guys feel about a round of never have I ever?”

“Sounds like fun,” Clarke grinned. She found it a little odd that Dylan didn’t drink, but figured that not all people their age did. She wasn’t sure how old Dylan was, but figured she was around her age. The more she thought about it, she didn’t even know exactly how old Lexa was.

“Yeah, sure,” Lexa agreed.

“Quick question,” Clarke added. “And totally random, I know, but I just realized I have no idea how old either of you are.”

“Nineteen,” Lexa and Dylan responded at the same time. They exchanged a glance and laughed.

“Seriously?” Clarke groaned. “Why am I always the baby when it comes to groups of friends? I literally only just turned eighteen.”

“It’s okay, baby Clarke, we love you anyway,” Dylan chuckled, patting Clarke’s knee.

“Whatever, never have I ever been nineteen,” Clarke smirked. Dylan rolled her eyes as she opened the bag of gummy bears, placing the candy between them. She tossed a bear to Lexa who caught it in her mouth and swallowed it without chewing. “Show off,” Clarke scoffed.

They started the game simply, Lexa and Clarke each ate a gummy bear when Dylan said that she’d never applied to college and Clarke ate one when Lexa said that she’d never left the country. Clarke and Lexa both ate another gummy when Dylan stated that she’d never been attracted to another girl. Dylan had waggled her eyebrows at the two other girls when she’d brought up the topic. Clarke knew that her newest friend suspected that something was going on between her and Lexa, but she was trying not to feed into that notion. It’s not like Clarke did romance anyway. Did she and Lexa have a decent amount of sexual tension between them? Sure, but they were both attractive, queer women, what did she expect?

It didn’t take long before the statements became more serious.

“Never have I ever cried when someone I knew died,” Clarke admitted. When Clarke’s dad died and she didn’t shed a tear, Abby had sent Clarke to see a psychiatrist. She met with the woman five times before convincing her mom she didn’t have to go. She hadn’t spoken during a single one of the meetings.

Clarke watched as Lexa hesitantly grabbed a red gummy bear and ate it carefully. Dylan leaned forward and grabbed a handful of of the candy. Nobody said anything as the redhead took care to eat each bear individually. Clarke got the feeling that Dylan was eating the bears for individual people. She wondered how Dylan had known so many people to die in her nineteen years of life.

Once Dylan had swallowed the last bear, she spoke, “Never have I ever met my biological parents.” To Clarke’s surprise, she was the only one who ate a gummy bear. “You’re adopted too?” Dylan asked of Lexa.

“Yep,” Lexa stated. She didn’t elaborate any further, and while Clarke could read Lexa well enough to know that Lexa likely didn’t want to talk about it, Dylan seemed to be a bit oblivious, not the best at reading people.

“I guess I must have technically met my birth mother since she gave birth to me, but that doesn’t really count. My bio-mom was a teen mom; she and my bio-dad were still in high school. I’m assuming you were adopted at birth too, right? I mean, that would explain why you’ve never met your bio-parents.”

“I was young, yeah,” Lexa offered, without actually giving any real explanation.

“Like baby young or like a kid?” Dylan inquired. “Were you in the foster system at all, or adopted right away? If you never met your bio-parents, I’m assuming they gave you up at birth, and if we’re being honest here, white girls like ourselves are pretty easily adopted as babies.”

“I was in the system for the first five years of my life, then I was adopted. And no, I don’t really remember what it was like in the system, I was too little,” Lexa’s voice was becoming harsher.

“I guess I’m just surprised you weren’t adopted at birth, it’s a little weird. I’m only saying this because I’ve done some research on it. And now I realize that I’m probably pushing too hard and you don’t want to talk about it,” Clarke could tell that Dylan had had the realization halfway through her sentence by the look on her face. Wanting to help her friend out, she interrupted her.

“Never have I ever been been a patient at a hospital,” Clarke interjected, saying the first thing that came to her head so that the conversation could change. When Dylan looked at her, a look of betrayal on her face, Clarke realized that she must have internalized the sight of Dylan taking the pills and that was why she thought to say what she did.

The guilt must have been evident on her face based on Dylan’s next words, “How did you find out?” The tone of her accusation simply confirmed what Clarke had been thinking, that something was wrong with Dylan.

“I..I didn’t…” she muttered. “I saw you taking pills is all.”

“Oh,” Dylan sighed. “It’s not that big of a deal. It was nice having friends who didn’t know though. Most of my friends back home are either my friends from the children’s ward at the hospital or they’ve known me long enough to know about me being sick.”

“Sick?” Lexa questioned.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Dylan repeated. “I’ve just kicked cancer’s ass a few times. Spent more time in hospitals than classrooms growing up.”

“I’m sorry Dylan, I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have brought it up otherwise,” Clarke apologized. She greatly regretted what she’d done, but there was no turning back now. “Well, if we’re doing the whole person-defining secret thing, I can add mine into the mix.” Clarke didn’t usually like talking about her father, but she didn’t want Dylan to feel like she was alone in having had grown up dealt a shitty hand. “My dad died when I was thirteen. We were robbed at gunpoint one night and he died protecting me, fighting off the guy who threatened to take me with him.”

She hadn’t told anyone that the robber had tried to take her with him, not even her mom or the police. Because if she hadn’t been there, he would’ve taken Jake’s money and just left and Jake would still be alive. Instead, she’d insisted that she wanted to go out for ice cream. It was entirely her fault that her father was dead.

“Well aren’t we a real chipper bunch,” Dylan added in, giving a momentary break to the heaviness of the conversation. “Life sucks sometimes, and people are horrible, but hey, at least we’ve got gummy bears, right?” She smiled as she took another handful. “Even if I most definitely will be having a stomach ache from them in approximately twenty minutes.”

Lexa and Clarke both nodded in agreement, but helped themselves to more candy anyway as they moved forward, away from talks of sickness and death and unexplained awkwardness surrounding adoptions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'd love to hear your thoughts :)
> 
> madgirlbackhome.tumblr.com


End file.
